I have a question, why do some parents send their Muslim kids to Cathloic schools?
I wouldnt for 2 reason:
1) The kids at Cahloic schools are not more pious than those of a public school. They just cover the immoralities up better!
2) You run the risk of them brainwashing your kids.
I can understand if there is NO other school near you and you want your child to get some kind of education. But parents do this even in Amierca
Sometimes, it's just the notion that they're providing their children the best education money can buy. More of a psycho-social reason.
Take me for example. My parents were immigrants from Pakistan and they migrated here after getting married. My father prided himself on building his life in America from scratch, without the assistance of anyone else. He wanted to be able to give his family the best of everything, taking advantage of the opportunities living in America provides over those who are coming from third world countries. He wanted his children to have the life that he didn't.
Firstly, many of the Muslims you see doing this feel similar. They feel that migrating to the West gives them the chance to provide their families with the very opportunities they didn't have growing up. Sometimes, they tend to overcompensate. In my family's case (and the case of many as well), it meant standing out from the rest. Usually this means standing out from the rest of the individual's cohorts. In my father's case, it meant standing out from other immigrants. He wanted to show his peers that his hard work in America was paying off to the point where he was sending his children to exclusive private schools. It didn't matter that they were Catholic. They even tried to get me into a Yeshiva at one point. As long as they were private, they stood out from the rest and to them, that's what mattered. I should point out that they didn't really know much about Islamic rulings in this matter and weren't as practicing as they are now.
Secondly, there's this stigma amongst many that private school education is alot better than public school education. Even growing up and while in private school, the stereotype amongst my classmates was that public school was a horrible place to be, almost as if talking about entering a jungle somehow. A fabrication as we later discovered. However, that was after gaining experience. People (especially immigrants who are new to the country) tend to believe that because they're paying tuition, they're paying for their children to have opportunities that other kids don't get. In their minds, if the education is expensive, the school must be better than the rest somehow. It was after many years, that my parents realized they were getting the raw end of the deal by not having their kids go to public school and they then rectified that mistake.
Thirdly, as Brother Sachin stated, these schools are in great abundance in the Subcontinent. Many Christian missionaries would migrate there and open up private schools. Western methods of education were taught and as the whole "West is superior" ideology was running prevalent over there at the time, people felt that if they wanted their kids to stand out above the rest they would have to include their children in these institutions, irrespective of religion.
Bottom line: It's not about religion at all. It's about the fact that it's exclusive. It's usually about proving oneself to the rest of society as being successfully assimilated in America and as a result, succeeding in life. This usually pertains to those that do not consider Islam a priority or sometimes, simply don't know enough about it to make it one.
However, you are correct regarding the brainwashing thing. I would usually get my Bible and Quran mixed up in terms of parables at times. But, alhamdulillah for my mother, she would go over my religion lessons with me every day and point out what was wrong and what was correct. She would even tell me how much of the Lord's Prayer I could recite, initially telling me to omit the line about Mary being the mother of God while I was a child to later teaching me to progress to reciting adhkar while everyone else recited the Hail Mary when I got older. She would answer all my questions and have an alim come over and teach us Quran right after we'd come home from Catholic school. It wasn't easy for her and it definitely can lead to brainwashing. But alhamdulillah, I look at it as a learning experience and I can easily refute someone who thinks they have something over me when it comes to preaching Catholicism.
Not many people can keep their jaws up after learning that a conservative hijabi went to Catholic school with nuns and observed Communion in Church.
